The surveillance state is to widen by requiring landlords, employers, bankers and DVLA staff to check for illegal immigrants, Home Secretary Theresa May announced yesterday.

Ministers said that measures in the new Immigration Bill would stop migrants abusing public services, deter illegal immigrants from coming to Britain and make it easier to remove people who should not be here.

But the reforms have been slammed across the board as "callow," "nasty," "unworkable" and "the politics of hate and fear."

Key measures will see temporary migrants, such as overseas students, pay to access the NHS in an attempt to tackle so-called "health tourism," while the appeals process against deportation is to be streamlined.

Banks will be forced to carry out background checks to stop illegal immigrants opening accounts, while applicants for a driving licence would also have to prove they were in Britain legally.

Employers hiring illegal workers will face heavier fines.

"Once more, headline-grabbing gimmicks trump tackling departmental delays and public fears are stoked instead of calmed," said Shami Chakrabarti, the director of human rights pressure group Liberty.

"Fair and legitimate immigration rules have their place but this nasty bill is a race relations nightmare waiting to happen."

The Bill aims to slash the number of grounds on which migrants can lodge immigration appeals including the right to a family or private life as laid out by the European Convention on Human Rights

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: "It is an affront to the British way of life.

"We do not spy on our friends and neighbours on behalf of the state."

Shadow immigration minister David Hanson said the bill will not address some of the biggest problems linked to immigration.

"There seems to be nothing in the promised bill to tackle problems at border control, which is getting increasingly shambolic, or deal with long delays in getting electronic checks in place, or the UK Border Agency bureaucratic failings," he said.

The government wants to reduce net migration from non-EU countries to less than 100,000 before 2015.